


Constricted

by TimberedFir2048



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: (it says "graphic description" but I promise it's not that bad), Angst, Canon Rewrite, Dewey Duck Needs a Hug, Huey Duck Needs a Hug, I literally just wrote this for Dewey whump, Older Sibling Huey Duck, Season 2 episode 2: The Depths of Cousin Fethry, Whump, and a bit of Huey whump thrown in, he loves his dumbass younger siblings very much, huey is a good big brother, look I love Fethry but he's not the best babysitter, someone please give these kids an actual guardian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 21:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30061881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimberedFir2048/pseuds/TimberedFir2048
Summary: The Depths of Cousin Fethry what-if: Huey waits a second too long.(Is literally just a shameless excuse for Dewey whump and Huey angst, because torturing my favorite characters is fun)
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Fethry Duck (Disney), Dewey Duck & Huey Duck, Fethry Duck & Huey Duck
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26





	Constricted

**Author's Note:**

> Man, idk why I wrote this. I see a chance for angst and I just fuckin. jump for it. So anyway here's a random fic, enjoy.

Huey's eyes snapped open and he let out a high pitched yelp at the sudden tightness around his body. Everywhere was green, a sickly green, slime and teeth and cold and tight. His first instinct was to struggle, so struggle he did - kicking and grunting and whimpering in fear. It wasn't until he heard the sounds of another doing the same that he realized he wasn't alone, and let out a cry. "What's going on?! What are these things?!"

"Giant sea worms!" said a voice to his left, strangely giddy for such a situation. Huey snapped his head around to see Fethry being held up, high above the ground, wrapped in coils of green and blue, and it suddenly clicked. He was being squeezed by a giant worm. Oh boy.

Fethry let out a joyous laugh, grinning in Huey's direction. "They've been mutated by the toxic vents!" The worm coiled around him hissed, teeth bared, but Fethry didn't bat an eye. "They just want to squeeze the warmth out of you!"

"You mean 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑠?!“ shrieked another familiar voice, and Huey turned to see Dewey also being squeezed by his own worm, though he seemed to be considerably more panicked than Fethry - kicking and twisting and whining in fear, eyes wide and panicked. Huey felt his big brotherly instincts begin to kick in, even as his own worm squeezed his small body a bit tighter, making him wheeze painfully.

"Well, I don't-" Fethry cut himself off, looking around at the situation they were in. He smiled cheerfully at Dewey. "Yeah, that'd work."

With the skill of someone who'd done it many times before, Fethry pulled his arms free of the worm's constricting embrace, still smiling calmly. "They can sense fear! Just be friendly, affectionate. Convince them you're not a threat. Observe."

And so the boys watched with a mixture of confusion and fear as he wrapped his arms around the worm's neck (tail?) and complimented it, called it a gentle soul, and told it how honored he was to be squeezed to death by it. Without a second thought, the worm loosened its coils, and Fethry plopped softly on the ground, dripping with a snotty green slime. He casually stood up, wiping the goop off his body, and gave the boys a smile, beginning to walk down the corridor. "Come on, Lil' Donalds!"

Dewey's eyes bulged, letting out a yelp as the now unoccupied worm came and wrapped itself around the one already holding him up. "You're 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑠?!" he cried, terror in his voice that made Huey's heart skip a beat. The middle triplet began to thrash even harder, kicking his little webbed feet in desperation as the worms coiled tighter around him. "No! Stop it! If you kill me I will NOT name you after me! Get off!"

Beginning to panic, Huey felt his beak move almost without his permission, eyes darting around in a feeble attempt to keep the worm's very sharp head in his line of vision. "Uh, you are a..sublime...polychaete."

Sweat dripped down his brow as the worm squeezed tighter, almost cutting off his air completely. He wheezed, eyes bulging. "I love you?"

Suddenly the pressure was gone, and he slipped right from the worm's slimy coils with a shout, landing hard on his knees. Ow. That was going to bruise. But he hardly noticed it, instead giving a triumphant laugh as he pushed himself to his feet. "Hah! It worked!" He wiped the slime off his body, turning to his trapped brother. "Cousin Fethry was right! Dewey, just compliment it!"

Dewey whined, his voice high and afraid. He looked nervously at the two worms wrapped tightly around his small body and audibly gulped. "Uhhh...you're not the most disgusting thing I've ever seen?"

The reaction was immediate. Instead of releasing him, the worms squeezed tighter, and Dewey shrieked in pain, eyes slamming shut. He twisted and wiggled, mouth gaping open with high-pitched whines of fear.

Huey grabbed at his hat, feeling his brotherly instincts kick into overdrive at the sight. "DEWEY!"

But before he could do anything, the worm that had released him was suddenly in his face, teeth sharp and dripping with something Huey didn't want to identify. It backed him into the wall, hissing and spitting. The eldest triplet whimpered, pressing his back against the cold metal. "I, um...love...how you only catch the best phytoplankton!" His feet scrabbled against the floor, head pounding, heart jolting in his heaving chest as his brother let out another pained cry. "Your blood...finds carbon monoxide much better than our hemoglobin!" He grabbed at his hat again, groaning loudly. "I'M TOO PANICKED TO BE SINCERE!"

"HUEY!"

His eyes snapped open, beak falling open in a shriek of fear, unable to do anything but watch as the worms began to wrap tighter around his brother, coiling around his neck, his beak, cutting off his air supply. Dewey's kicking grew weaker, eyes wide and unblinking, muffled shrieks tugging at his heartstrings. No, no, no! What was he supposed to do?!

The worm in his face hissed louder, eyeless face seeming to stare intently at him, as if clueing him in on what it wanted him to do. Huey's breath caught in his throat, mouth falling open in horror. Did it really want him to...? Gross! He couldn't! No way! There had to be something else -

𝑆𝑁𝐴𝑃.

And out of nowhere, Dewey 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑.

It was a sound Huey would hear ringing in his ears for days to come. His brother screamed, high-pitched and muffled and agonized and breathless, as something in his body gave a horrible, sickening 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘. Huey shrieked so loudly his voice gave out, tears pooling in his eyes as Dewey went limp, his thrashing and kicking ceased in an instant. The worms hissed and gurgled and squeezed tighter, and Huey lost all qualms about what he was going to do.

Kissing a giant, slimy worm was probably one of the weirdest things he had ever done, or tasted, or felt - but it did the job. As he gagged and spit and coughed, the worms receded, loosening their tight grip on Dewey, and his unconscious brother was dumped unceremoniously on the hard, wet ground with an unpleasant 𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑘. Forgetting everything else, Huey scrambled to his side, chest heaving in shuddering, open-mouthed gasps of fear.

"𝐷𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑦!"

His brother wasn't moving. He had landed hard on his back, arms spread almost lazily, head lulling to the side - and he wasn't moving. Desperate sobs bubbled up in Huey's chest as he slid his hand under Dewey's head, lifting it gently off the uncomfortable metal ground. Body trembling, Huey pressed his head against his brother's chest, silently begging for his fears to be proven false.

A heartbeat, loud and slow, pounded sluggishly in his ear.

Huey let out a shuddering breath as his tense body was given a moment to relax, feeling a frightened sob slip past his beak. Thank 𝑔𝑜𝑑, Dewey was alive. Huey didn't know what he would have done if...

He inhaled sharply, clenching his jaw. No. Don't think about that. Dewey's alive, he's alive, don't dwell on what-ifs. He could worry about those later. Right now, Huey had to focus on figuring out what was wrong with him. Something was obviously broken - that horrible crack was a sound he didn't think he'd ever forget.

Lifting his head from Dewey's chest, Huey moved his (shaking) free hand to prod softly at his arms and legs. With luck, it would have been just a limb that had snapped - it was a painful experience, but not something that Dewey hadn't been through many times before. But a quick examination of all four limbs showed that each was intact and unbroken. Which could, unfortunately, mean a number of unpleasant things - but the most likely one was that one or multiple of Dewey's ribs had fractured.

Not good.

Huey exhaled shakily, scrubbing at his eyes. "Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Focus, Hubert. Broken ribs. You know this." He took a deep breath, then began to gently poke at Dewey's chest. "First step - figure out where the break is. You've got this." He gently prodded his fingers across Dewey's shuddering chest, feeling for a crack or break. He found it rather quickly, for as soon as his fingers pressed against a certain spot to the right of his chest Dewey gave a strangled cry, eyes flying open with a gasp of pain. Huey yelped in surprise, almost dropping his head back to the ground. "Dewey! You're okay!"

Dewey shivered, then let out a loud, wet cough that made Huey wince. That sounded like it hurt. "Dewey?"

His brother blinked sluggishly. His breathing was slow and heavy, eyes drooping. It seemed to take a minute to register where he was - but when it did, Dewey's beak twisted in a tired smile as he let his head flop against Huey's shoulder. "You...kissed...a worm," he panted, words slurring. He gave a breathless chuckle. "So...𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠."

Huey blinked owlishly at him, mouth gaping open. "How did you - you were 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠!“

Dewey only shrugged, tired face lighting up with a grin. Huey sighed, then smiled weakly back. "It saved you, didn't it?"

"Yeah...thanks," Dewey whispered, breathless. Huey's smile grew tight with worry.

"Lil' Donalds!"

The eldest triplet looked up with wide eyes to see Fethry reappear from the darkness of the tunnel. He was smiling, holding his hands behind his back - but the cheerful demeanor was quickly dampened when he caught sight of the boys. Confused, Fethry hurried closer, face twisting into a frown. "Oh, what happened?"

Dewey seemed to chose that moment to give another harsh cough, body shaking in Huey's arms. He let out a low whine of pain and curled in on himself, eyelids drooping. Huey's heart skipped a beat, eyes growing wide.

He looked so 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙.

In that moment, Huey couldn't help himself - he turned a glare on Fethry, grip tightening protectively around his brother. "You left us! Alone! We could have 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑, Dewey almost did! He's hurt! I had to kiss a worm! What could be so important that you'd leave two children to fend for themselves against giant sea worms?! What kind of scientist are you?!"

Fethry blinked, eyes wide with surprise. "You think I'm a scientist?"

Huey's heart just about stopped.

"...you're not?"

Fethry shook his head, letting out a frustratingly cheerful chuckle. "No, I'm just the lab's caretaker! Scrooge stationed me here for upkeep, and a little light cleaning. I have my own pod down there, but it's really just a broom closet. I guess you could say I'm well versed in the custodial sciences!" And he chuckled again, and Dewey groaned softly, and Huey had never wanted to smack someone as much as he did then.

"We trusted you," he hissed, clutching his brother tighter against his chest. "We were going to follow you all the way down to the lab, and you're not even a scientist. And what do you have in your hands?!"

Fethry brightened, seeming to remember he had been hiding something the entire conversation. With a grin, he held out a lidded jar. "This is my team!"

Huey gaped.

The jar was full of krill.

"Lil' Donalds, meet Charles, Sylvia, Cameron, Philippe-"

"I don't care about your team!" Huey shouted, glaring at Fethry, who only looked shocked. Huey grit his teeth, resisting the urge to drop Dewey where he was and go after Fethry with his bare hands.

"Look, my brother is injured because of you. You dragged us down here for - I don't even know what, but was it really worth 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠?!" And he gestured vaguely to Dewey in his arms, who had gone worryingly still over the course of the conversation, breathing labored and soft. Fethry lowered his gaze, at least having the decency to look ashamed.

"I-I'm sorry, I just - nobody ever comes to visit me, y'know? I got so excited that someone was actually here that I just...got ahead of myself, I guess." He sighed, slouching where he stood, and suddenly Huey felt kind of bad for yelling at him. "I...I guess it's not important anymore, what I wanted to show you. We should head back up, make sure he's okay. Do you...should I carry him?"

Huey sighed softly. "No. I've got him." And he shifted and moved until Dewey had one arm around his shoulders, and then he pushed himself to his feet, steadying his brother against his side. Dewey blinked sluggishly, leaning heavily on Huey, who felt a little pang in his chest - this had to be more than a broken rib, if the way he was acting was any indication. Though Dewey did have a bit of a tendency to be overdramatic. Still, Huey was worried all the same.

So with Dewey limping slowly against his side and Fethry trailing sadly behind them, Huey led the way back to the aqua-vator. Dewey pushed himself to his own feet once they were inside, softly insisting that he was okay - he wasn't, not really, but he could somehow stand on his own (with a bit of a wobble) so Huey let it slide, though he did stay rather close to him.

Softly humming some sort of tune to his jar of krill, Fethry turned on the aqua-vator, and they were soon headed up, on their way back to the surface. Huey helped Dewey sit down, resting his back against one of the glass windows, then plopped down next to him with a sigh.

It quickly grew quiet in the tiny car, nobody wanting to say a word.

At least, until Fethry let out a happy little sound and pointed at the window, where many small pinpricks of rainbow light danced against the dark background of the sea.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the rushed ending but I really didn't know where to stop lmao. I guess this ends somewhat the same as the actual episode, albeit with some more whump bc well. Dewey's still injured. Do with that what you will. 
> 
> please comment it gives me Happy Chemicals and lord knows I need some


End file.
